This is essentially a Jamie Oliver recipe with a couple of tweaks in the changing of some ingredients. I have made it a little bit Middle Eastern, using soft Persian feta and a little of the wonderful spice sumac.
The recipe is one of series that Jamie has created for Woolworths in Australia, and is available as a leaflet in store. As always, the recipe has simple ingredients, an easy to follow method and the result is a tasty, colourful salad.
Ingredients
1/2 pumpkin (any variety, but butternut is sweet and easy to roast)
Olive oil
Sea salt and black pepper
1/4 tsp each ground chili, sweet paprika, sumac
1 avocado
Juice of 1/2 lemon
I tbls extra virgin olive oil
4 spring onions
100 gms Persian feta
Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Scrape the pumpkin seeds out of the pumpkin, reserving for later. Cut the pumpkin into 3 cm chunks, place in a large baking dish with a good lug of olive oil. Sprinkle over the salt, pepper, chili, paprika and sumac. Toss well to mix.
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from oven to cool for 10 minutes.
Toast the pumpkin seeds in a hot, dry pan until slightly coloured. Remove to cool.
Halve, destone the avocado and cut into chunks. Place in a bowl with the lemon juice and olive oil. Finely slice the spring onions, leaving some longer green tops for garnish.
Add the pumpkin and seeds to the bowl and toss well to make sure the dressing is distributed. You could leave in the bowl or spread over a larger bowl or serving platter.
Crumble the feta into large and small chunks and scatter over the salad, with the remaining green spring onion tops.
The Quirk and the Cool 